Izakaya Torae Torae

Whoa whoa whoa!!! Wish I knew about this place sooner! Let me tell you! Hands down the best bang for your buck. Happy Hour exceeds expectation! Had the chu toro and I couldn’t have had it any better other than to go straight to japan. Kind salmon, hotate scallops, amaebi were all very succulent and excited all taste buds with a fresh catch seafood taste. Spicy ahi roll was generous in portion and easy to eat. We also had the hamachi special and ahi special from the happy hour menu. Loved them. Beautifully cut sashimi slices topped with fresh veggies and delectable toppings and sauces. No complaints here other then the bay oysters were small and a little warmer than we usually eat them. The drinks were fairly priced and matched well with the items we ate.
Definitely can’t wait to go back

I had such high expectations for my catch up night with a few of my friends. I made reservations for 4 on a Saturday night at 7:30. I found parking in the tiny parking lot so I figured it would be a great night!
The restaurant was a lot smaller than I expected & it was packed to the max. They said they would seat us soon, so 10 mins passed, then 20 mins. I poked my head in to make sure they didn’t forget about us. 30 minutes later we were seated. The waitress didn’t seem to care too much that we had to wait such a long time. She just said «well do you want to order any apps since you guys had to wait such a long time?». We ordered the ahi tartare & the white dragon roll. Both were pretty good.
Our party ordered the spicy tuna don, uni & ikura don, mini ramen, jidori chicken, shrimp tempura, the bowl with the poke, quail egg & mountain potato & finally a piece of fatty salmon. Surprisingly the salmon came out after everyone finished eating.
The food was delicious, but I think I came on a night where the servers were overwhelmed.
The food

Everything on the menu is fantastic. Call ahead for reservations. Parking is tough, but there is a lot of stalls in the surrounding neighborhood.

This restaurant is a great combination of Izakaya style food and sushi. I love their Buta (pork) kimchi and their Otoro is fresh. They often have items such as fresh oysters and uni on their specials list. First time I ate here I didn’t even know they had a specials menu, so make sure to check it out — it’s a small white board above the sushi bar and the waiters don’t seem to point it out. Their rolls all have interesting names, but were average. I would stick to the Izakaya dishes and nigiri/​sashimi.
Of note, their vibe is a bit more hipster compared to other places in town. They play some loud rock music which I don’t mind but may turn off some more conservative folk. Their AC can be blowing a bit excessively as well.

It’s a hidden gem. Parking can be difficult. There usually is street parking around the area.
Quality-​8 of 10. There were four of us and I think we were close to ordering ¹⁄₆ of the menu items. They were mostly good. My advice, look at the Unilocal pictures; pick and choose. The average dish varies, appetizers 6 – 8. Main dishes 10 – 15. I thought our bill would be higher but it was a fair amount.
Quantity-​6 of 10. You’re coming to this place for quality. The portions are decent.
Service-​10 of 10. The staff has a good system and they take care of each other’s tables. The main server will take care of your group as much as possible.

I would give this place 5 star. Every sushi melt as I chew… yum…yum. goodness goes down on my throat. If you like your sushi fresh looks delicious, than stop by and check it out for your self. I searched numerous places but it was overly priced and did not tasted that good. No United States will have sushi place like this. It is very casual and small but I was smiling the whole entire time enjoying my food. P. S. Be patient and take your time to explore your taste buds. If it looks good then ask what they have.

I was having a huge craving for sushi and I called to see if we could make reservations for tonight. A female over the phone informed us that we cannot make reservations but that if we came in we will be seated at the bar. We said we will be there soon. I had this conversation on speaker so my bf heard it. So we arrive no more than 10 – 15 minutes after this conversation.
Upon arriving, we are informed by a male waiter that they are all booked and that they cannot seat us until after 9 pm (we got there around 7:30 pm). We tell him that we previously called and a female hostess/​waitress informed us that they can in fact seat us. He said he will check again and after 10 minutes or so informed us again that we cannot be seated and that we will have to be placed on the waitlist. Very disappointing as we would never have gone unless stated otherwise.
A note of advice to management — please train your staff to not make empty promises.

I had been wanting to eat here for a while and I was pleased with what I ordered. I got the pork belly kakuni, onsen tamago, fried ebi, and yuzu sorbet; my friend ordered maguro yamakake, chawanmushi, onsen tamago, and black sesame ice cream. The pork belly was really tender, and the daikon and soft egg complemented it well. The serving was also a lot larger than I had expected. The fried ebi was slightly breaded so the barb on the head didn’t poke my mouth as much as at other places with fried shrimp, but the restaurant was extremely busy so I’m pinning that for why my shrimp came out a little cold… regardless, it was still really good. The flavor was kind of mild, though. Yuzu sorbet is always delicious so I don’t really need to talk about that! I tried some of my friends yamakake and I’ll order it next time I go back — the yamaimo & egg had a really nice and smooth texture reminiscent of natto.
The space is small and it was packed the entire time we were there. We had made a reservation at 8:00 around lunch time but someone dropped the ball and our reservation wasn’t actually taken down/​held. We got there early at 7:30 so we still managed to be seated around 8:00/8:15. The sushi chef (also maybe owner? Maybe?) checked up on us regularly and whipped up a sauce for my friend when he noticed he was eating the maguro yamakake.
Overall, I really enjoyed dining here and would definitely come back. although, maybe don’t attempt to come here for dinner without reservations unless you’re ready to wait an hour or so. The parking lot is also kind of small, so might have to look for street parking.

After a disappointing round 1 dinner at another restaurant and we left that place hungry, we saw the ratings at this restaurant and decided to check it out! My friend was also craving sushi, so it was perfect. This restaurant is a little sketchy on the outside because the store front is dark and the lighting inside is dim. But once you are inside, you are welcomed by the colorful designs on the walls and jpop music.
My friend and I both ordered the chirashi don for $ 13.95 and I got a side order of the nametake tofu. The chirashi don was very impressive and high quality for such reasonable price! Wide variety of sashimi which included salmon, tuna, hamachi, ika, tako, ikura, tamago, scallop, and shrimp! The wasabi had a great kick and flavor as well. The nametake tofu was served chilled and was so soft, almost like a savory dessert with enoki mushroom sauce. I really enjoyed the tofu as well.
While we were enjoying our delicious bowl of chirashi, they started playing some japanese songs that were once title songs of our childhood animes. They got us pretty excited and nostalgic at the same time! I wish they have this restaurant in the bay area, I would go everyday!

Not sure what the hype about this place is, but there are a lot of better Izakaya style restaurants that Oahu has to offer. In short, the food here seems mostly average. The fish here was one of the highlights. And overall, the service and kitchen are ridiculously slow.
So my party got here around 6, when they open, there were a bunch of people also here so the restaurant was full from the get go. It was horrible because the kitchen was immediately slammed with orders and caused a lot of backups and confusion with the waiters.
Our food came out with horrible pacing, often times sitting at the table with no food and fiddling on my phone instead. Looking around, a lot of tables ended up in a similar situation. To make matters worse, a couple of the dishes we ordered were sold out (hamburger steak and potato salad), but we weren’t notified until at least 30 minutes after ordering upon which we put in a replacement order, but were bumped to the back of the kitchen order queue. The total time for our dinner here took about 2 hours.
To go through the dishes I enjoyed, the spicy ahi donburi was very good here. It was very tasty and fresh. The kakuni pork was another highlight, very tender and great with the soft boiled egg. Aside from these dishes, most of the things here were just average tasting like the onsen egg, tempura, and steak.
Overall, this place fell short of many expectations. While the service here is friendly, they can’t seem to juggle orders. Neither can the kitchen. I’d find a larger more well established Izakaya, unless you can spare the time and patience.

First of all, make a reservation. And second, come early. My friend and I came here at 6pm on Wed. Luckily, there weren’t many people there yet and enough parking in front. If not, you can park at the lot at the bank for $ 3. The space looks as if it can accommodate 35 people. We were seated at the bar, and I imagine it was b/​c this place gets packed.
As for the vibe, the space is dimly lit and perfect for pau hana with 1 friend, maybe 2. If you’re lucky, the chefs will play some old school EDM hiphop remixes; perfect opportunity for anyone to get up and shuffle. Go on! JUST DANCE. Actually, I’m kidding but don’t let me stop you. It’s a free country.
Of all the things we ordered, I recommend the spicy tuna tartare and the pork belly kakuni. DAT SPICY TUNA TARTARE DOE! SOOO GOOD! I’m not yelling. I’m excited. It’s flavorful, fresh, and savory. The pork belly kakuni fell off the bone and was had the perfect amount of texture. I will definitely be back to order these again. We also ordered the off-​menu dashimaki (~fried egg + sides) that other Unilocalers recommended as a dessert item. The 6 pieces were, well, meh. I could’ve been satisfied without it. It was still filling and enjoyable though. Just not sweet like I imagined. If you do get it, order it ahead of time. They may not have enough of the ingredients.
My friend drinks water as much as breathes air, and even she never got to see the bottom of her cup. Either they have great service or they overhead us saying we were Unilocalers. That’s right, recognize! JK! Unilocalers are normal people too. We just like to express our thoughts, like a lot, especially online. Anyway, I highly recommend this place. Definitely among my favorite restaurants in town.

My favorite place on Oahu to get sushi. Definitely make reservations as they fill up quickly. The service has always been top notch; they are all friendly, attentive, and nice. I come here for the otoro ikura uni don… I could die happy after eating a bowl of this. No matter how full I am, I feel sad when it is empty. The uni is buttery and creamy and tastes so much better than other izakayas or sushi restaurants I have been to. The combination of this don is amaaaazzzziinnnggggg!!! I struggle to share it with my boyfriend but I love him enough to give him less than half haha.
Other recommendations:
— vegetable tempura: thinly sliced, super light, crisp, not oily
— spicy tuna tartare: crispy wonton chip, creamy and fresh guacamole, and yummy spicy ahi! So good always a regular choice.
— hamachi kama: I have never had any this good… So soft and moist. We were absolutely stuffed at the end of the meal and the waitress said we could probably finish it and I laughed thinking she was crazy. She was totally right, not a piece of fish left over. So good! Definitely try it here.
— chicken karaage: different from anything I’ve had. Crispy, good flavor, not sure what else to say. It all just works. Try it, you won’t be disappointed, promise.

For our anniversary dinner, my bf and I wanted to try something different. But since he didn’t get off work until 10, our options were limited. Luckily I found this place
This place is located right next to sushi company on McCully… However at night, it is very hard to see their black sign! We had to call the restaurant to ask where they were because we didn’t see it lol! Luckily, we were able to find parking in that tiny lot.
When we arrived, we were hungry and quickly ordered: truffle teri edamame, ahi poke, spicy tuna tartare, kikune pork belly, Cali roll, bakudan maki, chawanmushi, and I also asked the server if the chef was able to make the dashimaki tamago… And luckily he said ok!
TRUFFLE TERI EDAMAME: SO insanely addicting!!! I never would have thought to pair teriyaki and truffle oil on edamame… I loveee truffle oil so I was happy that the truffle oil was noticeable (unlike some restaurants where uou taste nothing). We loved this so much, we ordered 2 orders lol
SPICY TUNA TARTARE: this dish was creative and unique and the flavors matched so well with each other! Spicy ahi on top of guacamole accompanied with a small raw egg on top and served with deep fried nori «chips». I was a little hesitant with the egg, but it was good… so good that my bf ordered one just for himself LOL
AHI POKE: nice and fresh
CALIFORNIA ROLL: basic but delicious, the spicy tuna roll was accidentally given to us for free but that was good too. My bf loved the Cali roll so much as well, that he ordered another one
CHAWANMUSHI: reminds me of my childhood… even with all the delicious food, this was one of my top favorites!
BAKUDAN MAKI: filled with seafood and is filling, but to me I’m not a fan of deep fried sushi so I found it a bit heavy and it tasted like there was cheese in it? Which I didn’t care for with the seafood
KIKUNE PORK BELLY: by the time this came out, I realized I was full and my bf and I realized we ordered too much lol! Anyways, I still took a few bites, and the pork belly melted in my mouth and went great with the onsen egg. The white thing in it (not sure what it is but it tastes pickled) tasted weird to us and we didn’t eat it lol
DASHIMAKI TAMAGO: unfortunately since we ordered too much, and since this dish does take awhile to make, we were stuffed when it came out! However, I ate one piece and it was delicious! The egg was light, airy and a little sweet and it was filled with unagi and cheese that oozed out. It came with mayo, dashi, and green onion
Overall, this place was SO good! And I think my bf and I found a new favorite. However, next time we know not to order more than we can eat (at least we had lunch today lol). Also, service here was great, and the server (I think her name was Sunnie) was really sweet and even packed our food at our table even though we said we can do it. We got all of the above food, plus a 2^nd order of the edamame, Cali roll and spicy tuna tartare for about $ 66

I love this place. The atmosphere, the music and the food. You can see the chefs working their magic while 70’s 80’s rock music is playing in the background.
The seafood shooter is a must. Raw oyster, uni, ikura and a quail egg in ponzu. Eat it with your eyes closed its just heavenly. We also had the nigiri platter, lollipop roll and the pork kakuni, all excellent dishes.
I can’t wait to return.

1. Great place for happy hour. They have a pretty extensive food and drink list! I dont remember all that we ordered. But there was nothing that was remotely unappetizing
2. If you are not coming here for the happy hour. there are a bunch of good selections also! My memory is fading since my phone was not out to capture what I ordered. but I do remember wanting to come back and try everything else on the menu.

Went to Torae Torae after a long while and it was even better than I remember… to me a true Izakaya have to do two things really well — have a wide selection of delicious Japanese bar food, including unique signature dishes, AND they need to do liquor and beer well. If the beer isn’t iced down and super ice cold, in frosty mugs, that’s already not authentic… many lower caliber izakaya in Hawaii will only refrigerator chill the beer… that’s not enough. Torae however does beer right, including frosty imported Asahi draft beer… a true taste of Japan which is great.
The food is fairly priced but uniquely and expertly crafted… for instance, all Izakaya have gyutan, but only Torae places 8 thin succulent slices on a large bed of thinly sliced white onions… you pinch the onion between a a slice of gyutan, dip in the sauce and it’s heaven.
Their sushi is delicious but also beautiful… they’re not trying to whip them out too fast where the rice isn’t even pressed and holding together well… they craft with care and it comes through in the balance of vinegar, shoyu, and that hint of wasabi… just enough to make your nose tickle… but not enough to make you tear…
Nigiri sushi is buttery and melts in your mouth… truly delicious and the right hand pressed temperature so the subtlety of the fish and flavors pop just at the right moment… you sigh a relaxed and satisfied sense of relief that it’s as delicious as you expected.
It also helps that the izakayas owner us the lead sushi chef and is front and center ensuring his patrons are tended to and happy… his serious sincerity shines through and makes the amabiance alive with authentic Japanese craftsmanship. and quality service…
Torae Torae is now in my top 3 favorite izakaya in Honolulu… but one star off for horrible parking.

What a great sushi find! This restaurant is very popular with locals and tourists alike, but I still deem it a find since there are so many Japanese sushi places out there.
I made reservations for 6:00pm and I’m happy to say that even though I was a little late, there were still plenty of tables available. Our waitress was very nice and suggested some popular dishes for us to try for our first time. We ordered the Spicy Tuna Tartare, which was delicious and came with too few seaweed chips to dip in. The spicy tuna roll was also very delicious! The Pork Belly Kakuni was like butter, super tender and flavorful. We also indulged and ordered the o-​toro, which was super fatty and fresh, although a bit sinewy. My favorite of the night, however, was the hamachi carpaccio! Melt-​in-​your-​mouth good with a nice kick to it!
One thing I do want to mention is the amazing décor around the restaurant. I guess the artist is a friend of the owner, but her work is amazing! If I had money to burn, I’d definitely buy a piece!
Reservations are recommended, as I hear it gets very busy. Parking is extremely limited, so come early or risk having to look elsewhere. I can’t wait to come back with more friends so I can try more popular dishes!

Great service and great food. We didn’t bother looking at the menu, instead looked at the photos from Unilocalers and went with all the favorite dishes. Tried to order the Dashimaki Tamago but the chef wasn’t making it tonight. Overheard another table wanting the same but was told the chef made 5 the previous night and decided to take a break for tonight. For two we ordered 9 items. Turned out to be one roll too many between a light weight and a heavy weight. Originally I had the Pork Belly Kakuni and the Pork Belly Don on my list but was told by the waitress to just order one since they’re both similar items. The broth in the Kakuni was good but with the soft egg, the don would have been better.
Pork Belly Kakuni: Tender pork with a nice melt in your mouth belly fat. The pork was slightly tough but still very good with the broth. ⁸⁄₁₀
Spicy Tuna Tartare: The spiciness is very subtle and does not overpower the dish. Melt in your mouth texture. The guacamole under the tartare added additional creaminess to the dish. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Hamachi Carpaccio: Melt in your mouth Hamachi with right amount of green onions and a hint of spicy pepper on top. The Hamachi was the star. ⁹⁄₁₀
Ahi Tataki: Essentially Ahi tuna carpaccio. Better than the Hamachi as the Ahi tuna was like butter. The freshness to this dish is unbeatable. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Snow Crab and Corn Cream Croquette: Real snow crab meat mixed in with some corn in creamy potato with the consistency of purée. Two comes on a plate with half of each drizzled in a katsu sauce. The sauce gave it more flavor, otherwise the croquette was light on its own. ⁹⁄₁₀
Mini Negitoro don with Uni and Ikura: This is more of a customized donburi with the addition of uni and ikura so the price was adjusted for the customization. Fresh and buttery. Rice was cooked to perfection with just the right amount of rice to mix everything in with ponzu sauce on the side. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Jidori Chicken Karaage: Good but nothing to write home about. If you’ve had good chicken karaage before I’d skip this and order another spicy tuna tartare. ⁸⁄₁₀
White dragon roll: Like another reviewer said, the garlic chip overpowers the hamachi. Actually the truffle oil overpowers the garlic chip. This would be a good option if you like the taste of truffle oil. Good roll but not as enjoyable for me as the Red dragon roll. ⁸⁄₁₀
Red dragon roll: spicy tuna inside and unagi on top. The spiciness of the tuna is very subtle. The sauce that’s drizzled on is spicier. ⁹⁄₁₀
The rolls portion of the menu just had the names without the description. Our waitress had to explain to us what consisted of each roll. In the end it came out to be about $ 65 per person. We could have done without one of the rolls. Not a bad price for great service and quality. Come early for the limited parking spaces out in front.

If you’re looking for something different and love sushi then try it! Similar to Doraku, regarding portions but much cheaper and much more creative ideas; especially the lollipop roll. Hands down: one of my favorite sushi places on the island! Everything is reasonably priced too! Been here multiple times and their consistency has always been on point. We’ve ordered:
–oyster shooters ****amazinnnnnng!
–maguro natto don
–stamina don
–bara don
–chirashi don
–ama ebi (sweet shrimp) ebi
–jidori chicken (ume)
–lollipop roll
–saba
–chawanmushi
Everything is so good. I would say skip dessert because you’re really there for the food. Make sure you get reservations because this place is kind of small. Happy hour starts at 10! We’ll definitely be back again!

My friend suggested we try this place. After reading the reviews and looking at the pictures, I was immediately game to check it out. Thank goodness I read the reviews ahead of time so we knew to make reservations ahead of time. When we made the decision to come here, it was a Tuesday. Unfortunately, they are closed on Tuesdays. Therefore, we had to wait until Wednesday (the day we planned to have dinner) to make the reservations. Luckily, my friend called earlier in the day and someone answered the phone! We were able to make a reservation at 6:30 pm for 5 people.
The one drawback about this place is the parking (hence, the minus of one star). There is a small lot that you can park in for free (right in front of the restaurant), but it fills up pretty fast. The other options are street parking (which is also limited) and a parking lot across the street for Central Pacific Bank. This lot has a pay box that is $ 3 from 7 pm to 6 am on weekdays. We were there a little before 7, but decided to just chance it and park in the lot. Luckily, our cars weren’t towed away! Tip: A security guard mentioned to us that we need to make sure that our money is fully in the box. As the box says, use a key to push your bills inside. The security guard said that homeless people come around and try to take money out of the pay box. Then cars get towed away because the money was taken out. How unfortunate!
My friends and I ordered:
1. Spicy Tuna Tartare (DELICIOUS! My favorite of the evening. We needed to order two of these for our group of 5)
2. Snapper Carpacciao
3. Cream Corn and Crab Croquette
4. White Dragon Roll (thought the garlic chips on the top threw off the flavor)
5. Red Dragon Roll
6. Lollipop Roll (riceless sushi)
7. Dashi Maki Tamago (Yay! We were fortunate that the chef had time to make this for us. It was slightly busy, but we just asked anyways. We didn’t care how long the wait would be… haha! It was so nice of the chef to do this for us. I heard there were 5 other orders also put in for this popular off menu item.)
Overall, we all enjoyed the dishes. It’s definitely a place we would come back again. And we did! Our first group of 5 people finished at a little after 9. We walked back out to the parking lot and said goodbye to 2 people. The 3 of us that were left just talked story until our 2 other friends came at about 10:30. We then decided to go back and try out the Happy Hour (10 pm — last call). Luckily, it wasn’t too busy and we were able to get a table right away.
On our second visit in the evening, we ordered:
1. Pork Belly Kakuni (I didn’t try this personally, but my friends said it was orgasmic! Haha… they ordered a second one, but it never came)
2. Ahi Tataki
3. Ika Shiokara (which basically looked like fish bait)
4. Asari Sakamushi (steamed clams) (My friends raved about the broth)
5. Iichiko
6. Chu-​hi (I ordered the green milk tea… yum!)
Last call came around 11:30, so we needed to move on to a new venue to hang out. Both visits were spectacular! The food is delicious and the servers were very friendly.

One of my favorite places to eat sushi in town! The quality is very high and it is not expensive. The uni ikura don is just amazing! The people are really nice and the sushi bar is pretty cool. If you like sushi and don’t know it you have to come! Also pretty nice happy hours after 10 every day! :)